Dusty and familiar

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I’ve really forgotten how to blog. I have my old Ukraine one floating around there somewhere but I remembered how undisciplined I was in maintaining that, so I figured it’d be more realistic that I end up posting just this one..



Normally when I travel, I either have some idea of how things are going to be like, with some anticipation, or I am ready to embrace the unknown. India is a strange in-between. Having spent all my childhood here, it has left me with strong impressions and memories. I arrived in NZ when I was 11 though, which means that my teenage years and beyond were shaped by my time growing up in Auckland, a stark contract to life in India. Also my upbringing was largely Western anyhow, which got further distorted once I moved to NZ. I’m hoping that there’s enough Hindi in my subconscious that it gets unlocked throughout my time here. It’s like the old saying.. it’s like riding a bike, when you’ve never really really learnt to ride a bike but you’ve seen other people ride bikes and you feel like you can understand the general concept.



Even before I landed in (New) Delhi, I started to feel the cultural shift, which was more than the plane full of brown people. I turned vegetarian when i was 14, a bit after moving to NZ. So normally when I fly, I’m used to having a special meal presented to me, before all the norms get their food. This time it didn’t happen, which made me worry for a while, before realising that half the passengers were probably vegetarian too, and by default, there was a vegetarian option. In India, “Chicken or beef” is usually “chicken or paneer”. This bodes well for me, because usually when I travel, I have to eat for nutrition rather than having a rich food experience. This has resulted in quite interesting claims from food vendors... from “it’s practically vegetarian, only some bacon bits (France), to “there’s seafood sauce in everything” (Malaysia) to “This octopus is DEFINITELY a vegetable (China). It’s fine, I’ve grown accustomed to potato on rice. But now in India, I look forward to having a dedicated menu section all to my self. And the other people, you’re not just the default selection anymore, you’re a ‘Non-vegetarian’. Who you are as a consumer is now defined by my preferences, hah!



I digress. In any case, my landing experience was surprising smooth. Pretty uneventful getting through immigration and customs. One of the few places where a brown guy with a beard won’t be ‘randomly’ stopped. Even leaving the airport was quite easy, managed to get an uber, and the trip to my accommodation was about $2.50. So far not a lot of traffic (by Asian standards), but I’m sure that will change as we move around more. Getting a hang of how the roads operate will be quite key here. Competence and caution when navigating the streets are far out-shadowed by brazen confidence. I’m sure I’ll do fine.



It took me a bit of time for it to actually sink in that I was back in India. I mean, I’m from a different part of India, but all the tell tale signs were there. The rickshaws, the dogs and cows along the road, the large red LPG cylinders lugged around, the Hindi script (which i can still somehow read), the overzealous commercials on television. This list could actually go on, but a lot of it is hard to describe in words.. it’s more like the general feel of things around you. Medium to large stores and businesses are replaced with countless small ventures.. Fancy malls and restaurants not far from roadside food vendors.. A sense that there are so many types of lives being led in a very small section. Now I’ve been to countries where I’ve seen this before (mostly Asia), but it’s quite different knowing that I used to regularly have first hand interactions with all of the different types of groups growing up.



I didn’t end up doing a lot on my first day here, I knew the next couple of weeks might be a bit full on so didn’t want to tire myself. I did end up walking around 10kms around the block. Mainly just to make up for the time cooped up on the flight. I didn’t encounter anything terrible interesting or noteworthy, but it was still quite a pleasant experience, just taking in the surroundings.. the people, the buildings, the gardens, the roads.. When I started writing this note, I thought I’d be able to describe in more detail the combination of familiar and unfamiliar that I felt everywhere. I’m struggling a bit to do so, but maybe over time it will make more sense to me.



I’m looking forward to the next couple of weeks, which involves mainly a tour of the North, visiting my grandmum and other family in Mumbai, and of course, the wedding of two of my great friends in the South.



Also I think I’m allergic to dust which is pretty shit.

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